


Something to Lose

by LaLionne (otayuriistheliteralbest)



Series: Drarropoly 2019 [10]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Angst, Drarropoly 2.0 - A Drarry Game/Fest, Drarry, Introspection, M/M, POV Draco Malfoy, Pining, Wizarding Wars (Harry Potter)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-11
Updated: 2020-01-11
Packaged: 2021-02-27 07:08:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 657
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22213072
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/otayuriistheliteralbest/pseuds/LaLionne
Summary: Draco ruminates on past mistakes and tries to fix what he can when the Golden Trio are caught by the Snatchers and brought to Malfoy Manor.
Relationships: Draco Malfoy/Harry Potter
Series: Drarropoly 2019 [10]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1545736
Comments: 2
Kudos: 38
Collections: Drarropoly 2.0 - A Drarry Game/Fest





	Something to Lose

**Author's Note:**

> Written for Drarropoly. Thank you SO MUCH to broccolisaurus for beta'ing this for me and really strengthening the story I wanted to tell in this ficlet!  
> Base Prompt: Song Inspo: [Split Stones by Maggie Rogers](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IHi5jq2P_Zk). Minimum: 550 words - Maximum: 850 words.
> 
> (I highly recommend listening to the song while reading.)

The Second Wizarding War had been a long, hard road, Draco was starting to think that he would never see the other side of the conflict. The winter of the war had been the hardest, living under the Dark Lord’s shadow. He spent his time hiding in the darkest recesses of the Manor, trying to figure out just how his life had come to this. His only bittersweet solace, for the short time they were with them, was the capture of Ollivander and Luna Lovegood. He’d snuck food to them in the dead of night when the guards had gone to bed, learning everything they knew of the outside Wizarding world. 

Draco was a joke in the eyes of his fellow Death Eaters, despite the fact that he bore the same Mark as them. It had been burned into his flesh at much too young an age, before he could understand what he was signing up for. Still,  _ he _ was the one who choked when it came time to kill Dumbledore,  _ he _ was the one who had collapsed as they escaped from the fight at Hogwarts. He had failed so many, many times in his missions for their Dark Lord.

Then Potter and his friends had whipped through the Manor like a whirlwind of chance. There was no mistaking that face, even under the effects of a Stinging Hex. He had spent far too many hours in their classes and during meals in the Great Hall, memorising the arch of Potter’s brow, the curve of his lips in both a smile or a scowl in equal measure. His heart clenched at the thought of Potter captured, even killed, because of Draco. He didn’t know if he could ever repay Potter, his enemy, the boy who lived, for snapping him out of a dream he had spent most of his life sleepwalking through, only to discover the nightmare hidden underneath the surface. 

Harry Potter, the boy he had loved since Fourth Year, his emotions tenuous in his grasp. Draco’s heart was fragile, and he guarded it by building up a wall of stones, spending his time calculating the biting remarks he shot at the Golden Trio. He regretted it all. Too little, too late.

Draco could give him his uncertainty, his hesitation, and give them the chance to get out. It was the best he could do for all of them; the limited power that he had in this life had turned out to be nothing like he had ever expected it to become. This wasn’t the glory and power that his father had always boasted about, but rather pain and suffering. Everything they had done to help the Dark Lord rise to power dimmed the brightness that had once been the Wizarding world Draco had known.

Draco had been relieved when their old house elf, Dobby, had come to collect Potter and their captives. He had let Potter Disarm him in the short lived battle, because what was the point of the Dark Lord’s rise to power? It had caused nothing but death and the worst year of Draco’s short life. So many had died because of the things that he had done, or had put into motion through his ignorance and stupidity. If he had to die in the battles to come, at least Draco would know that he had helped Potter and his friends to escape the Dark Lord’s grasp this once. 

He stood motionless as the silver dagger flashed through the air from his aunt’s hand, disappearing with the last of their captives in a wink. Draco fixed the image of Potter’s face in his mind, knowing that it would probably be the last time he would see him again.

When the Cruciatus Curse came seconds later, Aunt Bella’s voice screeching the curse in the air between them, Draco closed his eyes, accepting it as he crumpled to the ground, pain wrecking his body. 


End file.
